Forbidden Memories
by Matarra
Summary: Post-series adventure. Astral, Dark Mist, Yuma, and Vector all wind up in a 7th century world. They meet up with three men who have some dark secrets of their own. And Astral thought he had collected all of the numbers, but he finds out there are still a few left. What memories do these new numbers hold for him... and Dark Mist too!
1. Chapter 1

** Matarra: This entire fanfic is based of an idea I had after Astral made a certain comment when I was watching Yuma and Astral talk about barian past lives in one Zexal episode, I forgot which one it was. See if you can guess this comment as the fic progresses.**

** Misael: Alit, for once I am going to indulge in your gambling habit. I'll bet twenty bucks nobody ever guesses it.**

** Matarra: Hey! Don't bash the readers!**

** Misael: I'm not, I'm bashing your obsessive/compulsive need to memorize Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal quotes.**

** Matarra: *rolls eyes* I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal, if I did, I would have Misael get hit over the head with a blunt object. Although I'm about to do that right now. *glares***

** Misael: *scoffs and walks away***

"Come ON! Yuma!" Vector laughed as he dragged Yuma along behind him. After the war, Vector had reverted back to a personality similar to his Rei persona permanently. Well, almost permanently. He still had some moments that lasted one minute to an hour where he would act like his old psychopathic self. Everyone had dubbed it his, 'episodes', but they weren't all that bad most of the time. He didn't go on killing sprees during them, usually at least.

"Are you SURE this won't end like all your other shortcuts? Kari will kill me if I'm late to school again." Yuma asked nervously as he was pulled along by Vector.

"That's why we're taking a shortcut, isn't it?" Vector grinned.

"Keep going, if you get chased by a bear, I'll just laugh." Yuma and Vector stopped to look at the black being floating above them. Vector had allowed Dark Mist to stay in his baria lapis, kind of like Astral and the key. Dark Mist had begrudgingly agreed saying, 'not like I have anywhere better to go'. He and Astral still had issues but he didn't try to possess Astral anymore.

"We won't get chased by a bear." Vector rolled his eyes.

Dark Mist started counting off on his fingers. "You have gotten chased by dogs, wasps, cats, gerbils, an old lady with a bat, and a lion to name a few."

Astral came out of the key. "For once, 96 has a point. This is bound to end badly."

"Have a little more faith in the Rei Way!" Vector laughed.

"I do have faith in the Rei Way. Faith that you two will end up a tree or in a hospital by taking it." Dark Mist replied snarkily.

"Oh come on! That's not going to happen!" Vector pouted for a second before smiling again. He went back to dragging Yuma along and Yuma had enough sense to run with him willingly.

Dark Mist looked at Astral. "What do you think will go wrong this time?" he grinned sadistically.

Astral glared back. "Don't think I trust you. I still know that if it suits you, you'll betray us in an instant."

"It's how I am. Deal with it." Dark Mist smirked and they zoomed ahead to catch up to Yuma and Vector. "So... any bets on what will happen to screw them over?"

"I will not go along with your teasing, Dark Mist." Astral huffed.

"Hurry up, Yuma! Try to catch me, slowpoke!" Vector smiled.

"I will! Kattobingu!" Yuma ran faster and overtook Vector.

"Hey!" Vector ran faster and soon he was ahead of Yuma. It quickly turned into a race until Vector slipped on mud and fell into Yuma and down into the river.

"I'm sorry, Yuma-kun! I only had the best intentions and I really mean it!" Vector cried.

Yuma spit out some water. "It's fine. But we're going to be late AND soaking wet."

Vector blinked and looked into the water. "Hey... what's that?" Yuma, Astral, and Dark Mist all looked to where he was pointing. The water was swirling and crackling with lightning.

"Yuma, I have never seen water on earth do that. Is it natural?" Astral asked. Even after recovering all the numbers, Astral was still naïve about humans and earth in general.

"Even I know it's not supposed to do that, Mr. High and Mighty Original Number." Dark Mist snapped.

"Let's get out of here before that thing gets us!" Yuma tried to scramble up. "Uh... guys? I'm stuck."

Vector tried to get out too. "Same with me. And I can't teleport."

"Oh for the love of-" Dark Mist grabbed Yuma and Vector with his tentacles and tried to yank them out. His tentacles slipped and he fell face-first in the river. He came up spluttering and floated back out. Or attempted to, anyway. He was stuck just like Vector and Yuma. "What the hell?! I'm barely tangible! I shouldn't even be stuck at all!"

Astral looked down at them. "Observation number 25: Even Number 96: Dark Mist can be entrapped by water with lightning."

"Shut it and do something!" Dark Mist snapped.

Astral tried to grab Yuma's hand, but has usual, he passed right through the kattobing duelist and he too fell into the river unable to get out. Astral looked around. "It felt as though something dragged me in rather than I fell."

"Now that you mentioned it, I feel as if something's holding me here." Yuma agreed.

"It's that whirlpool! It must have a really strong central force of gravity!" Vector cried. Everyone looked at him. "What? I live with Dumon and he's a walking encyclopedia."

"While you guys sit around talking, might I have the audacity to speak before the great and powerful Astral and mention that THAT THING IS GETTING CLOSER!" Dark Mist snapped.

"I suggest we all try to stick together and not get separated." Astral said.

"Not getting any complaints from me!" Vector leaned over to hug Yuma and Dark Mist tight as Astral disappeared into the key. Yuma grabbed Vector's shirt and Dark Mist's hand.

"What the f*ck?!" Dark Mist yelled.

"Unless you want to be alone and drowning, you better grab onto us." Vector reminded him.

Dark Mist grumbled and wrapped a tentacle around Yuma and Vector.

"Right! So... what now?" Yuma asked.

"We try not to drown. Oh... I'll probably end up ticked enough when we get out of here that I'll have another episode!" Vector cried.

"Oh, you'll have another episode, God forbid." Dark Mist snapped.

The water was up to their chins by now and they felt the riverbed beneath them crumbling into oblivion. "Here we go. Kattobingu!" Yuma shouted before taking a deep breath.

Dark Mist tried to make a smart-ass retort but the water was up to his nose now. The ground beneath him disappeared and he felt two sensations he had felt only one or two times in his life.

Fear and falling.

It would have been almost better if he could've screamed to let out some of the turmoil inside of him. But he couldn't. The last thing he saw was Yuma and Vector falling down beside him and the last remnants of light disappearing as he went farther down.

Then, everything went black and he was met with the calming sensation of sleep.

…...

Dark Mist groaned as he slowly opened his eyes. Where... was he? Vector and Yuma were slowly awakening too. Dark Mist gasped as he recalled the crushing feelings of terror he had experienced. He quickly covered it up with a cough.

"Ugh... where the hell are we?!" Vector snapped. '_Well'_, Dark Mist mused, '_he certainly was right about the psycho episode. It's probably a minor one though. He isn't screaming for blood.'_

"No idea. Astral! Hey Astral!" Yuma tapped on the key. Astral appeared and looked visibly relieved to see them.

"Yuma! Vector! Dark Mist. I am glad you are alright." Astral cried.

"Don't think I didn't notice the lack of enthusiasm on my name." Dark Mist yelled, just to annoy Astral.

Astral ignored him. "This does not look like Heartland." Dark Mist and the others finally got around to looking around where they were. They were on a riverbank but, as Astral had pointed out, it certainly wasn't a riverbank in Heartland. There was forest all around and birds were chirping.

"Whatever. Let's get WAY the hell out of here." Vector stiffly stood up. He stood still with a look of concentration on his face for a full minute. "WHAT THE F*CK?!" he screamed.

"What's wrong, Vector?" Yuma asked.

Vector snarled, "I can't open an overlay network OR teleport!" He stretched out his hand and levitated a rock, "But my other powers work fine! And my baria lapis isn't even damaged!" He dangled the small red pendant he wore around his neck with two fingers.

"What?!" Yuma and Dark Mist yelled.

Astral disappeared into the key then returned a minute later. "The airship isn't working either."

"Well, just. F*cking. Great." Dark Mist threw a stone using his tentacles into the forest.

"OW!" The four froze when they heard they yell.

"Is... someone else here?" Vector asked. His episode seemed to be over now.

"My observations of this situation suggest that." Astral said.

"Screw your observations!" Dark Mist snapped.

"HEY! IS SOMEONE ELSE OUT THERE?!" Yuma yelled. The others covered their ears and cringed.

The bushes rustled and three men walked out, all wearing capes and clothes that looked like they were from the early dark ages, or around 600 A.D. One man was clutching his head. And they all had swords drawn.

"Ah! We come in peace! Er... take us to the leader! Uh-" Yuma rambled.

"Let me handle this before you get us stabbed." Vector whispered. "We mean you no harm! What are your names?"

The man holding his head yelled, "If you aren't hostile, why did you assault me?!"

Vector looked apologetic. "That was our friend. He was frustrated because we got lost so he threw a stone into the woods. We had no idea anyone was out there, or even within a ten mile radius!"

"If I knew they were there, I would've thrown it harder." Dark Mist muttered. Astral gave him a dirty look.

"That lobster haired kid threw a stone that hard?" The man with black hair asked, dubiously.

"I didn't! Dark Mist did!" Yuma cried before covering his mouth.

"Dark... Mist?" the black-haired man asked.

The guy with the goatee's eyes lit up. "Is he a ghost or spirit of some kind?"

Yuma and Vector looked at each other. "Well, kinda. Why?" Vector said.

The man with the goatee waved to question away. "No reason, no reason. If you want someone to travel with, we'd be more than happy to take you along. Where are you headed?"

"We want to go to Heartland City if you know where that is." Yuma said.

The man with the goatee frowned. "Sorry, I've never heard of that place."

Yuma and Vector drooped. "Oh," Yuma sighed, "Then nowhere."

The man with the goatee smiled. "Don't get down on yourselves, you can travel with us, maybe we'll run into someone who will know of this Heartland City. I'm Malachi. That's my older brother Dmitri," he gestured to the man Dark Mist had hit with a rock, "And my oldest brother Gareth." The black haired man.

"I'm Yuma! That's Vector. And you can't see Astral or Dark Mist but they're here." Yuma explained.

Malachi looked pleasantly surprised. "You have two spirits with you?"

"Yep! Astral resides inside the emperor's key and hangs around with me and Dark Mist resides inside Vector's baria lapis and hangs around with him." At this point, Dark Mist put a tentacle over Yuma's mouth.

"Why don't you just tell him every damn detail of our lives?" Dark Mist snapped.

"Let go of him!" Astral started to get defensive.

"Of course, O' wise and powerful Astral. I will worship you on my knees and burn incense to repent and come back in your good graces." Dark Mist was really laying on the sarcasm but he did let Yuma go.

"What was that?" Gareth asked.

"Just listening to a discussion between Dark Mist and Astral." Vector said quickly.

"We're burning daylight, let's get going. The horses have grazed long enough." Malachi looked at the sky. The rest of the party followed him to a clearing. "We don't have any more horses so Yuma can ride with me and Vector can ride with Gareth."

"Cool! I've never rode a horse before! Have you, Vector?" Yuma exclaimed.

"Duh, Yuma-kun." Vector replied. Gareth got up on his horse and Vector swung his leg up and took a seat behind him. Malachi had to help Yuma to get up on the horse. As they rode along, Malachi asked Yuma about Astral. He seemed very interested in the Zexal bond and how Yuma had gone from hating Astral to being his best friend. They eventually stopped to set up camp, which Yuma was surprisingly good at.

As they sat around the campfire, Dmitri asked Yuma, "So what's Astral like?"

"He's smart, kinda naïve, and a great strategist!" Yuma said.

"I see..." Dmitri seemed deep in thought. "So, any possible dangers to traveling with you?"

"Dmitri!" Malachi exclaimed, "I'm sorry about him, you don't need to answer that!"

"It's fine, really!" Vector smiled. "Bad things tend to happen around us for one,"

"Us too, so no worries there!" Malachi replied, obviously making an effort to smooth over Dmitri's rudeness.

"Except we go looking for it." Dmitri muttered.

Malachi flashed a murderous look at his brother while Vector continued, "The main problem is that I sometimes have little episodes where I go completely psycho and sadistic for a short period of time, but they're not usually life threatening to the people around me. But if you see me ripping small animals apart, you know I'm having an episode and should probably steer clear of me for a while."

"Okay then. We all better get some sleep." Malachi went over to a saddle bag and pulled out some blankets. "Good thing we brought extra blankets." Yuma and Vector each took one gratefully. Astral turned to Dmitri and noticed him looking at Yuma piteously.

Astral frowned. "96?"

Dark Mist looked over at Astral."Yeah, glowing blue jerkhole?"

Astral tried to keep his irritation at a minimum. "Do you have a strange feeling about Dmitri and Malachi?"

"I have a strange feeling about Malachi. He's like Yuma, too trusting. Dmitri at least is being smart for a human." Dark Mist scoffed.

Astral shook his head. "That's not what I mean. Don't you get an odd vibe from him?"

"Vibe?" Dark Mist laughed, "Have you been hanging out with hippies? I'd say you were on crack if you could eat!" He vanished into Vector's baria lapis. He would never admit it to anyone, least of all Astral, but he did have a feeling about Dmitri and Malachi. And he would never, ever say it out loud, he wouldn't even admit it to himself.

But he, for some stupid reason, was scared of Malachi.


	2. Chapter 2

"Yuma, wake up. Yuma!"

"It's a Saturday, Astral. I don't have school today." Yuma muttered.

"YUMA!" Astral shouted.

Yuma blinked awake. "Huh?"

"I may not be able to see or hear him, but I think Astral's trying to remind you where you are and get you up." Malachi smiled.

Yuma jumped up. "Oh, right!"

Malachi laughed. "Come and get some breakfast. Your friend Vector found a bird nest so we are having eggs."

"Sweet! Kattobingu!" Yuma cheered. He ran over and Malachi handed him a wooden plate with a fried egg on it. Yuma quickly snarfed it down so Malachi gave him two more.

Astral looked at Dmitri again and saw him staring at Yuma with same look of pity he had gave him the night before. Astral frowned. Why did Dmitri keep staring at Yuma like that? While Astral puzzled over it, Dark Mist came up behind Astral and shoved him. Astral barely caught himself in time. He turned around and glared at Dark Mist. "What do you think you're doing?!"

"Annoying you." Dark Mist replied. Astral pointedly turned away from him and continued looking at Dmitri. "Are you STILL going on about him?! That's just sad." Astral gave no response except he clenched his fists. "If you keep this up, you're going to be a stalker."

"What's a stalker?" Astral asked.

Dark Mist sweatdropped. "Never mind." he muttered. Astral smiled. He fully knew what a stalker was because Yuma had described Vector as one when he first met him as Rei. But Dark Mist annoyed him to no end, so who said he couldn't at least have some fun with him?

"Morning, Yuma-kun! You're finally up, sleepyhead!" Vector grinned as he dragged a basket of berries over to the fire. "I got raspberries and strawberries!"

"How do you always get up so early?" Yuma asked as he helped himself to a handful of berries.

"I'm a morning person." Vector replied. He passed the berry basket around the campfire to everyone.

"We had better get going soon." Malachi said. They finished up their breakfast and started on the road. Malachi seemed to know where he was going and the others followed him.

"What's up with Dmitri? He seems to be a little dark." Vector asked Gareth.

Gareth bit his lip. "It's not really his fault, you know."

"Something bad happened to him, didn't it? I know all about how tragedies can mess you up." Vector said.

Gareth sighed, "Yeah, his wife was struck dead by lightning and then people started calling her a witch because of how she died. That wasn't true at all, you couldn't find a nicer woman for miles. Then, a few years later, his two sons were killed."

"He had kids?" Vector asked.

Gareth nodded. "Twins, both great kids. A little rowdy, but all children are."

"How did they die?" Vector asked.

"They were murdered. Please drop the subject and don't bring it up again. It's a prickly point among us, especially Dmitri." Gareth didn't say anything more no matter how much Vector pestered him.

Meanwhile, Malachi was asking Yuma some more questions. "Can Astral show himself to whoever he chooses to?"

Yuma shook his head. "No, some people can see him, others can't. If someone has been exposed to certain energies, they can usually see Astral."

"What about Dark Mist?" Malachi asked.

"He's a little different. If people have been exposed to certain energies, they can see him just like Astral but he can also show himself to some people who haven't. But he doesn't like to, at all." Yuma explained.

"Yuma! I am pleasantly surprised you are using words in a format far beyond your normal vocabulary!" Astral praised, or so he thought.

A red tick mark appeared on Yuma's head while Dark Mist and Vector smothered laughs. "HEY!" Yuma yelled.

Malachi started. "What is it, Yuma?"

"Nothing, Astral's just insulting my intelligence." Yuma said.

"And you're still best friends?" Malachi asked.

"Duh! Why wouldn't we be?" Yuma replied.

"No reason." Malachi replied and Astral got that funny feeling again. They kept riding on in silence for a while. After a while, Astral floated over to Dark Mist.

"Can you go into the key with me? I want to talk with you alone for a while." Astral requested.

"Really?! You're inviting ME into the key?! Well, I wouldn't want to disappoint the magical supreme deity that is the great Astral. Your wish is my command." Dark Mist mock bowed and went into the key with Astral following. "So what do you want to talk about, oh great one?"

Astral fought the urge to strangle him. "I'm still having that funny feeling around Malachi and Dmitri."

Dark Mist facepalmed, tilted his head up, and laughed. "You're STILL going on about that?!" He shook with laughter.

Astral frowned. "I invited you into the key to talk privately. I wouldn't do that if I didn't feel it was serious."

Dark Mist, with plenty of trouble, eventually sobered up. "Fine. So you're scared of Malachi. Big deal."

Astral blinked. "I said I had an odd feeling around Dmitri and Malachi. I never specified that I was scared of Malachi."

"Whatever." Dark Mist said quickly.

"I'm cautious and especially wary of him, but I don't feel any fear around him-" Astral stopped, "Wait, you DO have a strange feeling around them too. You're scared of Malachi?"

"NO! I am most certainly NOT afraid of that prissy!" Dark Mist cried.

"You are!" Astral gasped.

"Shut it, Astral!" Dark Mist snapped and floated away.

Astral watched him start to go. "I know I'm right, and though you won't admit it, you have the same suspicion. There's something off about them, but we have no choice but to accompany them."

Dark Mist stopped. "I SAID SHUT IT! I'M NOT AFRAID OF MALACHI! I DON'T HAVE ANY WEIRD FEELINGS ABOUT THEM! LEAVE ME ALONE!" he screamed.

"Dark Mist-" Astral started but Dark Mist had exited the key. Astral groaned. That number was so stubborn at times.

…...

"We'll be sleeping here tonight." Malachi announced.

"What?! Why are we stopping? It's not even dark yet!" Vector whined.

"Because it will take a while to set up camp and get extra food for rations tomorrow. We'll be out of this forest soon and into a grassland that has barely anything tasty or edible growing in it. If we don't store up, we'll be having grass for dinner tomorrow." Malachi explained.

"Okay!" Yuma cheered. He slid off the horse and started unloading the saddle bags. The others slid off the horses too.

"Can Dmitri help me look for food?" Vector asked.

"Sure, Vector." Malachi replied. Dmitri flashed an angry look at Malachi before yanking a basket out of a saddlebag and stalking off behind Vector.

As Vector and Dmitri picked berries from a bush they had found, Vector said hesitantly, "Gareth told me about what happened to your wife and sons. He told me not to bring it up but... well, you should at least talk to someone about it and I know how you feel better than most."

Dmitri froze. "It happened years ago. Drop it." his voice was clipped and harsh.

"My parents both died and for the longest time, I was brainwashed to think I killed them. I was a complete psycho for a very long time. I remembered what really happened eventually, but the damage to my soul was done. That's where my psycho episodes come from." Vector explained.

Dmitri looked down. "My wife, her name was Eva, she was the sweetest, most beautiful woman in the world. When she died, I wore only black for six whole months, I still wear some black on my clothes at all times. My sons were devastated. Luhke wouldn't come out of his room and drew his mother in his sketchbook. He and his brother were both good artists for their age. Sebastian would go for a run in the woods to burn off steam and when he heard anyone call his mother a witch, he would get physical very fast. We all moved on since that was what she would've wanted us to do."

"About four years later, Luhke and Sebastian were found dead at the bottom of a canyon. They were barely eleven. It was evident that they had been assaulted and pushed off the edge of the cliff. That time, I couldn't face the world for almost a year. No one could find the murderer." Dmitri placed his head in his hands. He suddenly sharply turned his head and glared at Vector. "There. Happy?! Now don't talk to me again." Vector nodded and went back to picking berries.

…...

As the company was eating dinner later, Vector pulled Yuma aside and told him what he had learned about Dmitri. "His kids died?" Yuma asked, shocked.

"Yep, he's still broken up about it. That's why he so cold and dark." Vector said.

"It must be awful, having your family die like that." Yuma said. Vector gave a slight cough. "Oops! I forgot for a second about your family! Wait, that came out wrong! What I meant was-"

Vector laughed. "I know what you mean, Yuma-kun!"

"Time to go to bed, boys! We have a big day ahead of us tomorrow! Lot's of traveling to do!" Malachi yelled.

Vector and Yuma each grabbed a blanket and snuggled under it. Yuma fell asleep quickly and Vector drifted off soon after. Astral came out of the key and looked down at Yuma. Dark Mist, by coincidence, came out of Vector's baria lapis. The number froze as he saw Astral and prepared to go back into the red gem.

"Wait." Astral said. "I won't say anything more about you having a feeling about Malachi and Dmitri."

Dark Mist crossed his arms. "Good."

"But... I'm worried we could be in danger around them. My suspicions are usually right about these kind of things." Astral glanced over at the sleeping men.

"Of course, the almighty being that is Astral the stick-up-the-ass can NEVER be wrong about ANYTHING at ALL." Dark Mist snorted.

"You agree with me though, it's not your nature to trust people." Astral said.

"You're right about that. But they're useful at the moment, so we stick with them." Dark Mist replied.

"I suppose we have no choice..." Astral sighed before going back into the key to retire for the night.


	3. Chapter 3

"C'mon Yuma! Up and at 'em sleepyhead!" Vector clapped his hands in front of Yuma's face.

"YUMA! It's time to get up!" Astral yelled.

"Ngh..." Yuma groaned.

"Come on! Rise and shine, Sleeping Beauty!" Vector ripped the blanket off of Yuma and started shaking him.

"Fine! I'm up!" Yuma groaned.

"Finally, thanks for the help, Vector." Astral said.

"No problem-o!" Vector smiled.

"Jeez, why did you have to get so aggressive? You could've just yelled.." Yuma complained.

"I did. For ten minutes. And Vector helped me for five of them. I was seriously about to ask Dark Mist to help." Astral sighed.

"And I was about ready to throw you against a tree to get you up." Dark Mist yelled.

Astral gave him a dirty look. "Can we at least get to noon before you put a damper on my mood?"

"Mmm...no, sorry. It's my job to make your life a living hell." Dark Mist mock sat while floating in midair.

"Wow, you can really sleep in. I'm beginning to think you go into comatose each night instead of going to sleep." Gareth whistled.

"Don't antagonize him!" Malachi rebuked Gareth. He turned to Yuma. "Ready to get going?"

"Yep! Kattobingu!" Yuma cheered.

Malachi chuckled and mounted his horse. Everyone else did likewise and they started off again.

…...

About four hours later, Astral turned to Yuma. "Yuma... there's someone else in the area."

"Huh?" Yuma asked.

"What's wrong?" Malachi asked.

"Astral says there's someone else in the area." As soon as Yuma finished speaking, a knife whizzed by his head, slicing the tip of his ear. "Yah!"

"Bandits!" Gareth cried. A group of masked men had surrounded the company with swords drawn.

"Give us all your goods and valuables and we might let you live." The leader of the robbers ordered.

"As if, pathetic mortals," Vector growled. He slid off the horse and slowly walked towards the bandit leader.

"This will be fun." Dark Mist smirked and floated to Vector's side.

"Vector! What are you doing?!" Gareth cried.

"I think he's having an episode. You might want to back up, this could get ugly." Yuma warned.

The bandit leader looked down at Vector and laughed. "What's a pipsqueak like you going to do?!"

Vector smirked and an insane look came into his eyes. "This." he extended his hand and the bandit leader flew back into a tree with a sickening crunch and a scream of pain. The other bandits tried to attack Vector but they were all caught by an invisible force. Invisible to most, anyway. Yuma, Vector, and Astral could all see Dark Mist attacking them with his tentacles. Astral covered Yuma' eyes although it didn't do much as far as obstructing the view. Vector exploded some bandits from the inside out and Dark Mist ripped some of them apart. A bandit came too close to Vector so the currently psycho alien grabbed a fallen bandit's sword and brutally sliced him so he fell to the ground screaming in pain. Dark Mist strangled the rest of the bandits with his tentacles.

The three men gaped. "What... was that?!" Gareth cried.

Vector blinked and the shine came back into his eyes. He covered his mouth in horror. "That... was a really bad episode."

"Meh. I had fun." Dark Mist shrugged.

"Vector, are you even human?!" Malachi asked.

"Well... no." Vector admitted sheepishly.

"He's a barian." Yuma said.

"What the hell is a barian?!" Dmitri yelled.

"Aliens who take human form on earth since it's a matter based world instead of an energy based one like our home world. I can take a ghost-like energy form here although I'm the only barian who can do that." Vector replied.

"So, you're not human or even from this planet?" Malachi asked to make sure he got the facts straight.

"Yeah..." Vector rubbed the back of his neck. "I better clean the blood off." He transformed into his energy form for a second before returning to his human form, blood-free. He looked at the bandit who was still screaming in pain and stabbed him through the heart, ending his misery. He mounted behind Gareth and slightly slumped.

"And you didn't think to tell us about that?!" Dmitri shouted.

"I kinda hoped you wouldn't find out." Vector muttered.

"Okay, Vector's an alien. Nice to know. Let's keep moving." Malachi gripped the reins.

"Y-you're not mad we didn't tell you?" Vector asked.

"It's not exactly the thing you bring up in a normal conversation, now is it?" Malachi smiled. They kept riding but Vector facepalmed for the entire time, probably in embarrassment and horror at what he had done.

Astral eventually turned to Dark Mist. "I'm getting that feeling again."

"I don't caaare~" Dark Mist sang.

Astral groaned. "Do you have to be such a-"

"Dick? Douche bag? Ass? Yeah." Dark Mist interrupted.

"I suppose I should stop worrying about them. Dmitri is a little dark, but the others are nice. Malachi seems kind and is especially nice to Yuma and Vector." Astral pondered.

"Hmph. I don't like him." Dark Mist pouted.

"I can tell." Astral sighed, "But... I was probably wrong in distrusting them." He thought for a moment. "Yuma?" he asked, addressing the lobster haired duelist.

"Yeah, Astral?" Yuma asked.

"Tell Malachi that I was suspicious and wary of him at first but I believe I am wrong and that I am sorry for jumping to conclusions based on a vague feeling." Astral orated.

"Okay," Yuma replied.

"What are you two talking about?" Malachi asked.

"Astral just said- uh... could you repeat it?" Yuma asked. Astral sweatdropped and repeated his apology. "Right! That he was suspicious of you and didn't trust you at first but he now thinks he was wrong and is sorry for jumping to conclusions based on a feeling."

Malachi started, then laughed, "It's alright! He shouldn't apologize to me, being careful around strangers he doesn't know is smart."

"Maybe if Yuma was just as careful..." Dmitri muttered.

Malachi glared at him. "Dmitri, when we stop for the night, you and me are going somewhere alone to have a talk. I think you're sorely needing one." Vector felt Gareth stiffen and wondered what that was about.

…...

After they had stopped to rest for the night, Malachi dragged Dmitri off well out of earshot of the rest of the group. "What. The hell. Were, you, thinking?! You've been acting negative towards Yuma and Vector ever since they arrived! I told you to be nice to them when they fell asleep that night we first met them! Especially Yuma!"

Dmitri crossed his arms. "I don't want to go along with your sick fantasies. Yuma's just a kid!"

"He's a kid who's bonded with a spirit inhabiting a pendant. You're a bookworm, you know about spirits with special items they're bound to." Malachi hissed.

Dmitri looked down. Yes, he knew all about it. In most every case he had come across, the spirit possessing the item was evil and would influence the person who possessed the item. After a while, the person would go from hating the spirit to loving it. Some of the more powerful of spirits could even possess the human who owned the item for a time. Astral fitted the description of the more powerful spirits.

"I will do everything I can to save Yuma." Dmitri growled.

"Which isn't much. I have you in the palm of my hand and I won't let you tell Yuma or Vector ANYTHING. Even if you do, how do you think Yuma will react? And you know the answer to that too." Malachi smirked.

Dmitri kicked a pebble. He also knew from research that humans with a spirit-possessed item wouldn't believe anyone if they called the said spirit evil. Some even reacted violently. He only knew this from reading, but there were plenty of true accounts of incidents like that. "You won't get away with this." Dmitri snarled.

"I will. Yuma believes I am his friend, and I am! But more towards Astral than him." Malachi's cruel smile turned into a frown, "But YOU better toe the line and do as I tell you to. Else I will take more from you than I already have."

Dmitri bitterly laughed, "What else can you take?!"

"Test me and you'll find out." Malachi replied, "This conversation is over. I'm glad we had this little chat." He patted Dmitri on the back and left Dmitri to broad.

"Hey! Want some berries?" Yuma offered Malachi some berries.

"Yes, thank you. I'm starved." Malachi chuckled as he took a couple handfuls of berries and some bread.

"How's Dmitri?" Vector asked.

Malachi sighed, "I was firm with him and set him down and asked him to be nicer to you guys. I think he'll be a little friendlier but don't expect him to be your new best friend."

"That's good! We all need to get along if we're going to be stuck with each other for a while!" Vector laughed cheerily before sobering, "Umm... about today..."

Malachi smiled sympathetically. "We were in danger and you responded. You lost control, but it's not your fault. We would've had our gooses cooked if you and, Dark Mist I'm presuming, hadn't attacked."

"Thanks." Vector smiled.

"Now finish your meal and get some rest." Malachi said as he took a bite of bread.

"Got it! And thanks." Vector said as he finished off the rest of his berries.

"Night everyone! Kattobingu!" Yuma yelled as he pulled his blanket up to his chin and promptly fell asleep.

"Why does he always say... what is it? Cat...bingo?" Gareth asked.

"Kattobingu." Vector corrected, "It means to reach for the sky and keep going no matter what."

"So it's his motto." Gareth summed up.

"Pretty much." Vector yawned and laid down, pulling his blanket over his body. "I'm going to sleep. G'night."

"Good night, Vector." Gareth said.

**Matarra: Dun, dun, DUN! Malachi is evil and thinks Astral is too!**

**Misael: This fic is going down a deep, dank, dark hole.**

**Matarra: For once, will you STOP bashing my writing?**

**Misael: Let's see... no.**

**Matarra: *rolls eyes* Why am I not surprised? Please review!**


	4. Chapter 4

Astral looked down at a still sleeping Yuma. It had been impossible to get him up this morning and Astral wouldn't let Dark Mist near Yuma because he was probably going to drop a boulder on him or something to wake him up. So Malachi had picked up Yuma and slung the sleeping boy over his horse.

"You just couldn't let me wake him up, could you? I could've had so much fun!" Dark Mist complained.

"YOU wanted to drop him off a cliff to wake him up," Astral said.

"I never suggested that. There isn't a cliff nearby," Dark Mist smirked.

"Observation number 26: Dark Mist is incredibly annoying," Astral said.

"You're just now making that observation?" Dark Mist laughed.

"Mph.. wha- AHH!" Yuma screamed. Malachi grabbed Yuma's shoulder to keep him from falling off the horse.

"Easy there! We couldn't get you up so we brought you along asleep." Malachi smiled.

"Oh, oops." Yuma yawned.

"It's definitely going to be a pain getting you up tomorrow," Malachi sighed teasingly.

"Huh?" Yuma asked.

"We should get to a small town relatively soon so we can sleep at an inn tonight." Malachi smiled, anticipating Yuma's reaction.

"You mean, we get to sleep in a real bed tonight?! Kattobingu!" Yuma cheered.

"Where are they, and we by association, even going?" Dark Mist complained.

Astral stopped to ponder. Dark Mist had made a good point for once. They had no idea where Malachi, Dmitri, and Gareth were headed. Astral contemplated asking Yuma to ask where they were ultimately headed but something stopped him. He trusted Malachi now, he never had a problem with Gareth, and although Dmitri was cold and distant, Astral felt that he could be trusted too. Yet, he felt that asking them would be a bad idea.

"Dark Mist? Will you come with me into the key?" Astral asked.

"What? You're like a little kid; 'Oh Dark Mist! I had a bad dream, can I sleep with you tonight? I'm really scared, teddy bear's scared too and sucking my thumb for an hour straight hasn't helped'." Dark Mist mocked in a high falsetto.

"Do you want to come with me into the key or not?" Astral glared at the number.

"Fine. But seriously, why are you having me come into the key so much?" Dark Mist asked.

Astral paused and thought. Dark Mist was the number who possessed him, almost killed Yuma multiple times, sort of killed him once, and annoyed him to no end at every opportunity. So why was he being nice to him? "I have no idea," Astral finally said.

"Wow. I'm impressed, and not in a good way," Dark Mist whistled, "You're being incredibly kind and generous to the being who wants nothing better than to steal the numbers and force everyone to bow before him after taking over your body and you don't even have a reason for it."

"Just get in the key," Astral groaned and vanished into the emperor's key. Dark Mist snorted and followed.

"So, what do you want to talk about this time, O Great One?" Dark Mist quipped.

"Dmitri," Astral replied.

"And you're talking to me about it because...?" Dark Mist asked.

"The only logical reasoning behind it is that Malachi, Gareth, and Dmitri can't hear any of our conversation," Astral replied.

"Right, so you choose the number who's a portion of the evil deity of destruction to talk to about it instead of risking them hearing Yuma or Vector's half of the conversation." Dark Mist drawled.

Astral groaned and counted to ten. When he was finished, he said, "Anyway, I still am getting a weird feeling around Dmitri."

"Oh my- STILL?! Haven't I made it clear I don't give a shit about your little ESP sensing moments?" Dark Mist sneered.

"Yes, yes you have," Astral sighed, "But there's something about all of them that just makes me do a double take. I have no idea what it is."

"And I totally do," Dark Mist groaned.

Astral blinked. "You do?"

"Of course not, idiot!" Dark Mist deadpanned.

Astral sighed. Dark Mist wasn't being much help. "Can you at last TRY to give it some thought?"

"I have nothing better to do so I suppose so," Dark Mist smirked, "Let's see, these three men are making you feel ill at ease and you have no idea why. They have done nothing to make you suspicious and yet your initial feeling is that of mistrust. And you trust fairly easily so there shouldn't be a problem," Dark Mist said.

"That is correct," Astral confirmed.

"You ever met these guys before?" Dark Mist asked.

"No."

"Are you sure? After all, you are the amnesia patient." Dark Mist smirked.

Astral frowned. "I have regained all the numbers."

Dark Mist started to laugh. "Is that really true?! You actually believe that?!"

"What are you taking about?!" Astral demanded.

"Simple. I know for certain at least one number, Number 97, is still missing. I have not checked the others." Dark Mist smirked.

"What?!" Astral flew over to the numbers with Dark Mist close behind and started to count. "Only 92 number cards!" Astral gasped.

Dark Mist whistled. "Wow, how do you miss that many numbers? Eight numbers, Astral. Eight freaking numbers that you missed."

Astral gaped, "I don't have any gaps in my memory, but there's still numbers missing!"

"You sure about that?" Dark Mist asked dubiously.

"YES! I'm positive!" Astral cried.

Dark Mist shrugged. "Well, I'd be more concerned but as I've stated before, I don't give a shit."

Astral was too worried to pay any attention to Dark Mist's jabs. He quickly left the key and was followed by Dark Mist. "Yuma! We have a problem!"

Yuma glanced up at Astral. "Huh? What's wrong?"

"It... appears that I do not have all of the numbers even though I remember everything. Eight are missing."

"WHAT?!" Yuma shouted.

Malachi grabbed his ear. "Ease up on the volume, I think you made me deaf. But what's the matter?"

"The problem is that the mighty and omnipotent Astral doesn't know how to count." Dark Mist snorted, even though Malachi couldn't hear him.

"Well, Astral has something called number cards. There are 100 of them total," Vector explained, "We thought he and Yuma had gotten all 100 of them, but now Astral's saying that they seemed to have missed eight of them."

"Wait, so Astral is missing eight number cards?" Gareth asked.

"Yeah, and that's not good! We need to find them!" Yuma cried.

"Let's ask around when we get to the town; it shouldn't be far away, at most another hour's ride." Malachi said.

"You realize that just using your natural charm that makes everyone around you think you're the nicest man doesn't always work," Dmitri snorted.

Malachi looked at him. "What are you trying to say?"

"I think what our brother is trying to say is talking to people and asking around doesn't always work. He thinks Astral will be drawn to and find the numbers on his own," Gareth said quickly with a look at Dmitri.

"Perhaps he's right, but still, asking questions won't hurt," Malachi mused. He spurred his horse to a gallop.

"Alright; I'll play along with your 'funny feeling' game, I'm having a weird feeling now and I don't like it." Dark Mist crossed his arms.

"So you're admitting you feel something odd around them?" Astral asked.

"No, I'm admitting I have a funny feeling about them right NOW at this moment," Dark Mist said,

Astral stared at him, "Can you please tell me how you're feeling about each of them, and don't make any sarcastic remarks."

Dark Mist smirked, "I'm about killing myself not mocking you right now, but fine. I'm fine with Gareth, no feelings positive or negative there. Malachi," Dark Mist looked like he was about to puke, "Fine! I'm a little scared of him. But Dmitri..." Astral waited for Dark Mist to continue, "I-I don't know what I feel towards him. I feel sad when I see him but then I feel... the opposite of sad."

"Happy?" Astral asked.

"I've never felt happy to see a person before, only when I'm gaining power," Dark Mist said, "Now, Mr. Psychiatrist, what is your diagnosis?"

Astral groaned, "Did you have to slip that one in there?"

"Couldn't resist."

Astral frowned, "I think you do feel happy to see Dmitri, I do too. I wonder why that could be," he mused.

"No idea and I don't care why. You can go on to your next patient, doctor. My appointment is over," Dark Mist retreated to Vector's baria lapis.

"That number is way too irritating," Astral groaned. He vanished into the key.

* * *

"Yuma!" Malachi rushed into the room they were staying in at the local inn. "I found out, through asking I might add," he said with a pointed glare at Dmitri, "That a certain shop is selling a number card."

"Really?!" Yuma cried.

"If that's true, that would be the easiest you've EVER gotten a number. Ever," Vector said.

"Yeah, you're right," Yuma agreed.

"Yuma, we had better go down to this store and get that number, if this is true," Astral said.

"Right, Astral! Let's go!" Yuma cheered. He raced out the door with Vector and Malachi close behind.

"Heh. They have a lot of energy, don't they? Just like Luhke and Sebastian," Gareth chuckled sadly.

Dmitri crossed his arms, "I miss them," he sighed.

Gareth looked down, "Me too. They always brightened up the palace, even when they were accidentally destroying something."

Dmitri held his head in his hands and slowly exhaled, "Why did they have to die? My whole family... except you."

"I take it you're not counting Malachi as family anymore," Gareth said.

"Are you?" Dmitri asked.

"...no," Gareth admitted.

"Thought so," Dmitri groaned and laid down on the bed.

"Want me to get something for you to eat? You haven't had anything since last night," Gareth offered.

Dmitri immediately sat up. "You shouldn't be getting me anything, it should be the other way around,"

Gareth smiled sadly, "Recent circumstances make that formality irrelevant."

Dmitri's hands curled into fists. "Damn Malachi..."

"Cursing him won't change anything. I'm going to buy some rations, we need them anyway. I should be back soon," Gareth slowly closed the door behind him.

* * *

"That'll be three coppers, although why anyone would want that piece of paper is beyond my comprehension," the store clerk sighed.

Malachi handed over three small copper coins. "One man's trash is another man's treasure," he answered with a wink. Yuma, Vector, and Malachi walked out the door and out into the busy street.

"That was easy," Astral commented.

"You said it, Astral! Here you go!" Yuma took the card from Malachi and handed it to Astral. Astral took it and stood still for a second before a puzzled expression came onto his face.

"Well?" Vector asked.

"It is definitely a legitimate number but, I'm not getting any memories from it," Astral said, confused.

"It's just one where the memory doesn't come right away, or maybe you've already remembered everything so this one has no memories to give you, although I highly doubt the latter," Dark Mist scoffed.

"Why does every word that comes out of your mouth sound like an insult, even when it's not meant to be?" Vector asked.

"That's because, to some degree, it always is meant to be an insult," Dark Mist said.

"In the future, could someone translate what Astral and Dark Mist are saying? It's hard to follow the conversation," Malachi said.

"Oh, oops! We'll do that!" Vector laughed, embarrassed.

"Sure, I'm fine with you explaining exactly what I've said to pathetic mortals with very limited perception of the things around them, kinda like slugs," Dark Mist smirked.

"Except when Dark Mist says things we won't repeat, like what he said right now," Vector sighed.

Astral disappeared into the key and Dark Mist followed, smirking. Astral hovered as he looked at the new number. "What memory do you hold that you won't reveal to me?"

"I don't think it's going to start talking and giving you a full explanation," Dark Mist said. Astral started because he had not known Dark Mist was right behind him. Plus Dark Mist had said it loud enough that it could technically be considered a shout.

"I don't remember inviting you in here this time," Astral complained.

"I don't remember ever saying I need your permission to come in," Dark Mist shot back. He peered at the number card, "Number 13: Twin Djinn? That is the DUMBEST name for a card ever."

"This coming from the guy called Dark Mist," Astral sighed.

"Let me see that number, maybe I can figure out something you've missed. Which, by the way, isn't very hard," Dark mist reached for the number.

As his hand touched the number, he and Astral were struck with a powerful memory. Although it wasn't really a memory, more of knowledge. An overpowering fact that shocked them to their cores.

Astral blinked and shakily turned to Dark Mist who was staring back at him with the same shock Astral himself was expressing. "Observation number 27," Astral began with a tremble in his voice, "Somehow, Number 96: Dark Mist... is my twin brother."


	5. Chapter 5

"HOW THE F*CK AM I YOUR BROTHER?! I was born from a shard of Don Thousand's power that had embedded itself into you!" Dark Mist had been ranting for the past hour while Astral had stayed silent as he processed the information.

"I suppose that's not the case. Even if everyone thought that was true, this new data directly contradicts that." Astral mused.

"I NOTICED, YOU ASS!" Dark Mist yelled.

Astral sighed, "If you're my twin brother, then we should start getting along better. Maybe the reason I started being nice and invited you into the key was because of this suppressed memory."

"BITE ME!" Dark Mist snapped.

"...you don't care, do you?" Astral asked.

"HELL YES, I CARE! WHY THE F*CK ELSE DO YOU THINK I'D BE YELLING FOR AN HOUR STRAIGHT?!" Dark Mist screamed.

"Just calm down." Astral soothed.

"DAMN RIGHT I WILL! I JUST FOUND OUT I'M YOUR F*CKING TWIN AND WE APPARENTLY HAVE A PAST LIFE JUST LIKE THE FRIGGING BARIAN EMPERORS! HOW DO YOU THINK I FEEL ABOUT THAT?!" Dark Mist yelled.

"Judging by how you've been screaming for an hour, pretty ticked." Astral sighed.

"Not completely ticked, more like confused and ticked!" Dark Mist growled. He seemed to have grown tired of screaming at the top of his lungs.

Astral nodded absentmindedly. "Confused, that's a good word to describe how we both feel."

"Just shut the hell up and leave me alone." Dark Mist snapped. Astral left the key to tell Yuma and Vector of what he had learned.

The party had gone back to the inn and Yuma was lying in bed with Vector since there weren't enough beds for everybody and Vector and Yuma had to share a bed. "Hey Astral, have any luck with getting the memory from the number?" Yuma asked.

Astral bit his lip, "Yes... but it's knowledge, not a true memory."

"Oh! What's the knowledge?" Yuma asked.

Astral turned to address Vector. "Vector, kindly put your hand over Yuma's mouth and Yuma, do the same to Vector. I don't want either of you alerting the others about this. I'd prefer it to stay between us."

Vector put his hand over Yuma's mouth and Yuma put his hand over Vector's mouth. Astral continued, "The knowledge the number contained was released when both Dark Mist and I touched the card. I believe it was because the knowledge was meant for the both of us because... Dark Mist is my twin brother."

"MMMPH?!" Yuma and Vector both muffledly screamed.

Vector took Yuma's hand off his mouth. "Do you mean you and Dark Mist had a past life like us barians?"

Astral nodded. "It appears so."

Yuma yanked Vector's hand away. "That's awesome Astral! What was your past life like?!"

Astral sighed, "I do not remember. The number only held the knowledge that Dark Mist and I were twins. Nothing about our past."

"Since you remember everything from this life, then the remaining seven numbers must contain memories of your past life." Vector mused, "How's Dark Mist taking it?"

"He spent the past hour ranting." Astral explained, "I should go check on him." Astral disappeared back into the key. He looked around for Dark Mist and found the number curled up in a ball hugging his knees with his back to Astral. Astral floated closer to him. "Dark Mist?"

"Go away you damn bastard." Dark Mist muttered.

"We just found out we're brothers and had a past life, why are you sulking and avoiding me? If anything, we should be trying to grow closer." Astral asked as he crouched down beside Dark Mist.

He turned his head slightly and Astral could see he had tears in his eyes. "You don't want to grow closer to me."

"Yes I do, why would you think I wouldn't?" Astral asked.

Dark Mist looked down. "You don't know it, but you really don't."

"Dark Mist, what's this about?" Astral demanded.

Dark Mist wouldn't meet Astral's eyes. "If- if we had a past life, we died, right? And ever since I touched that number I've had this nagging feeling that-" Dark Mist broke off and looked Astral in the eyes, tears and all, "That it was my fault that we died in our past life!"

Astral recoiled. "That's not true!"

"Oh yeah? Did you magically remember how we died, O mighty all-knowing one?" Dark Mist shot back.

"No, I just know it wasn't your fault." Astral replied.

"And I know it was my fault!" Dark Mist yelled.

"Dark Mist... you don't remember how we died either. Until we do, let's abstain from blaming anyone on how we became deceased." Astral reasoned.

"And if when we do remember, what if it is my fault?! What then?!" Dark Mist snapped.

Astral sighed, "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

Dark Mist crossed his arms and turned his back to Astral again. "Do you know anything else from our past other than that we were twins?"

Astral really thought and looked at Number 13: Twin Djinn. "One more thing, now that I think about it. I- I think we used to be best friends as well as twins."

Dark Mist nodded. "That seems right." He bit his lip and sighed, "Doesn't look like that continued into this life though."

Astral was at a loss. In a spur of the moment decision, he put his arms around Dark Mist and hugged the number. Dark Mist looked like he was about to snap at Astral and maybe punch him but instead eased into the hug and placed his head on Astral's shoulder. "If you ever tell anyone about this moment I will kill you... nii-san." Dark Mist murmured.

Astral weakly chuckled. "Wouldn't dream of it." he sat there for a while hugging Dark Mist until he finally pulled away because Dark Mist had told him to, "let go you damn blue nightlight". Astral floated over to the numbers. 'Galaxy Queen' was capable of showing reruns of ESPer Robin, much to Astral's delight when he found it out a few months ago, and Astral invited Dark Mist to watch it with him. Dark Mist had, begrudgingly, agreed although he kept making comments every two minutes.

…...

Gareth groaned awake. He felt as if he was in a fireplace. "How the heck does it get so hot at night?" he muttered bitterly. Shoving the soft, thick blankets off, he stretched his arms to the heavens and yawned. He blinked a few times and noticed Dmitri sitting on his bed holding a piece of paper. He walked over to Dmitri and sat down beside him and took a look at the paper, even though he already knew what it was. Smiling faces of a man, a woman, and two boys stared up at him. It was a drawing Luhke and Sebastian had drawn of their family a long time ago.

Dmitri turned his head to look at Gareth. "Did I wake you up?"

"No, it was this blasted heat." Gareth groaned.

Dmitri nodded. "It is really hot."

Gareth held Dmitri's hand. "You had a nightmare again, didn't you?"

Dmitri laughed with no humor in his voice. "Yeah, I think spending more time with Malachi has prompted them to occur more often."

Gareth sadly nodded. "I ask myself every day why he would do any of this."

Dmitri snorted. "Why? Cause he likes power that's why. And he's willing to do anything to get it."

"But to hurt his own family? To kill his own flesh and blood? He's our brother; every day I have to remind myself he's really done all this and it wasn't some bad dream." Gareth sighed.

Dmitri clenched his fist. "He's a bonafied sociopath, he makes Vector's episode the other day look like a temper tantrum."

"That's a little far." Gareth said.

"Okay, so Malachi doesn't do anything THAT bloody but he's still a murderer. And on the inside, he's more twisted than anything Vector can do in an episode." Dmitri said with conviction.

Gareth sighed and became lost in his own thoughts. Malachi was their little brother, how could he hurt them all this badly? He had forced them to go on this journey with him almost at sword point. And Luhke and Sebastian- He had to break off that musing because he was probably going to cry if he continued that train of thought.

Gareth's eyes flickered over to where Vector and Yuma were sleeping. Gareth's mouth curved slightly upward in a smile. Those two were so full of energy. Being around them almost made things seem better. Gareth's smile faded as he looked at the pendant around Yuma's neck. Gareth knew a little about spirits inhabiting items from Malachi and Dmitri. Gareth covered his mouth and nose with one hand. He knew Malachi saw Yuma as nothing more than a future ally to help him in his quest for power. This Astral inhabiting the pendant was, despite Malachi and Dmitri's assurances otherwise, a wild card to Gareth's perspective. His brothers may believe Astral was certainly evil, but Gareth considered that he might be good. Of course, he didn't know as much as his brothers did about the supernatural, but Astral could easily be against Malachi as for him. Gareth hoped the former was true because, if it was not, Yuma could be the one getting hurt.

Gareth yawned as he left his brother, who was still staring at the drawing, and went back to bed. Leaving the covers off, he slowly drifted back to sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

Astral groaned and facepalmed. Why did Malachi have to be right about it being impossible to get Yuma up this morning? "YUMA! GET UP!" Astral screamed.

"COME ON LOBSTER-BRAIN! WAKE UP!" Vector shouted. He had woken up with an episode this morning so Astral was a little cautious of him right now.

"Can I drop a rock on him?" Dark Mist asked.

"No."

"Set fire to his hair?"

"No."

"Put a stink bomb in his underpants?"

"No."

"Dump water on his head?"

Astral paused. Then, "Vector, get a bucket, there's a well in the town square."

Vector giggled like a total sociopath and ran to get a bucket. Dark Mist watched him go before turning to Astral. "Sooo... Where does yesterday leave us?"

Astral thought. "Ex-rivals who are attempting to figure out how to be brothers."

"Yeah, that's a good way to put it." Dark Mist agreed. Vector came rushing in with a bucket sloshing with water and dumped it on Yuma's head. Yuma moaned but didn't wake up.

"Seriously?!" Vector whined before giggling again.

"Can I dump him in the well? I swear I'll pull him out before he can drown!" Dark Mist begged.

Astral was about to tell him no, but stopped and thought. If he and Dark Mist were brothers, then they needed to trust each other. Maybe if he let Dark Mist do this it will get Yuma up and strengthen the bonds of trust between them.

"Please Astral-nii?" Dark Mist pleaded.

That did it. "Alright but you had better pull him RIGHT OUT." Astral sighed.

"Yes sir!" Dark Mist grinned. Vector dragged Yuma outside with Dark Mist and Astral close behind. Dark Mist wrapped a tentacle around Yuma's midsection as Vector dropped him in the well. A few seconds later, a splash was heard, another groan, then Yuma's scream. Dark Mist quickly yanked Yuma out. The lobster-haired duelist was soaking wet. "See? I told you it would be all right!"

"Yuma, I'm sorry but we literally tried everything else we could to get you up." Astral apologized.

"Except for most of those things Vector and I suggested." Dark Mist pointed out.

"Those were more of assassination attempts than ways to wake him up." Astral said.

"So you finally got him up. Sorry to have to get on the road so soon, but we need to go." Malachi strode up to the group. "Took a dip in the well?"

"Courtesy of Dark Mist and Vector." Yuma pouted.

"Aww... Yuma-kun! But your widdle screams and facial expressions were so CUTE~" Vector giggled.

"Please tell me he's going to go back to normal soon." Dmitri groaned as he and Gareth joined the party.

"Maybe in another thirty minutes at least." Yuma said.

"Great." Dmitri sighed.

Malachi slapped him on the back. "Don't be so down! Why don't you show Yuma that little trinket you bought!"

If it were possible to kill with a glance, Malachi would be stone-dead from the look Dmitri gave him. "It's NOT a trinket and you _asked_ me to buy it." Dmitri said the word 'asked' sarcastically.

"Just show him!" Malachi laughed.

"Fine." Dmitri said in a clipped voice. He pulled out a few quills, some paper and ink from his satchel. "These quills are apparently supposed to allow spirits to hold them, the ink and paper are so they can write and have something to write on, any questions?"

"Pfft. Really?" Dark Mist took a quill. "That has got to be the DUMBEST this I have ever heard. I can hold most everything fine so no problem-o there but Astral..." he chucked the quill at Astral. "Catch, bro."

Astral caught the quill with one hand. "You're really trying hard with the brother thing huh?"

"What can I say? Once the absolute shock wore off, I kinda like the fact that I have a brother." Dark Mist shrugged.

"And Dmitri was right about these quills, see?" Astral held the quill between his index finger and thumb.

Dark Mist blinked. "Huh. So these do work." Astral threw the quill back to Dmitri, who wasn't expecting it but caught it anyway.

"Looks like they work!" Malachi laughed.

"Obviously," Dmitri deadpanned.

"Time to get going, we're burning daylight." Gareth said.

"Gareth's right! Come on!" Yuma and Vector hurried to keep up with Malachi. Gareth and Malachi had long legs but they still needed to slightly jog to catch up with their brother.

"Observation number 28: Malachi has a lot of energy. Quite a lot." Astral commented.

"Tch. I still don't like him." Dark Mist scowled.

"Do you believe we knew him?" Astral asked.

"I- I think so. I can't remember. I can't remember anything except that you were the older twin." Dark Mist sighed.

Astral blinked. "Wait, what?!"

Dark Mist looked at his doppelganger with a huff. "Yeah, we both touched the stupid card."

Astral pondered for a second. "Dark Mist... when I said last night that we used to be best friends as well as twins, you said that SEEMS right. Not that you knew it was right."

Dark Mist thought that over. "Yeah, so?"

"What if we both get slightly different memories and knowledge from the numbers? We're different people, so it makes sense." Astral reasoned.

Dark Mist pouted. "Does that mean we have to tell each other about what we learned every time we get a new number?!"

"Yes, except for the main memory we get. We both got the knowledge of being twins, but only you knew that I was slightly older and only I knew that we were friends." Astral said.

"Tch. That's annoying." Dark Mist scowled as he flew off after Vector. Astral nodded as he followed his twin.

…...

"Sooo... where are we going?" Yuma asked. They had been on the road for over four hours already and Yuma was getting bored.

"Ruins, we're looking for powerful items. That's why we are on this little quest. And we might even find some numbers." Malachi explained.

"Oh, ruins! Cool!" Yuma grinned.

"Aren't you worried about traps?" Vector asked. His episode had gone away a few hours ago.

"Yeah, but that's the thrill of adventure!" Malachi smiled. Yuma laughed and high-fived him.

"And the thrill of getting decapitated." Dmitri muttered.

"Aw... where's your joy of discovery? Does someone need hug therapy?" Malachi laughed.

Dmitri steered his horse to the right so he would be even farther away from Malachi. "I never want a hug from _you_." Dmitri snarled.

Yuma and Vector blinked at the sudden hostility. "Don't worry about him, he used to be nicer and more open but he kinda fell apart after his family died." Malachi sighed, "Gareth's the only person he'll ever confide in or act like his old self around anymore. They were always close."

Astral wouldn't have been surprised is laser beams shot out of Dmitri's eyes and fried Malachi. "Is it just me, or does he look like he wants to rip Malachi's throat out?" Dark Mist commented.

Astral nodded. "He does seem upset at Malachi."

"Understatement of the century." Dark Mist snorted, "What's got him so furious?"

Astral frowned. "Perhaps mentioning his family got him distressed."

"He does seem to get touchy whenever his family is mentioned, especially whenever Malachi mentions them." Dark Mist agreed.

"I wonder what he was like before his family died." Astral wondered.

Dark Mist tapped Vector's shoulder. "Hey carrot-top! Can you ask Gareth what Dmitri was like before his family died?"

Vector sighed, alerting Gareth. "What's wrong?"

"Dark Mist was wondering what Dmitri was like before his family died." Vector said.

Gareth gave a small smile. "He was happy, that's the main difference. He adored his wife and kids and loved to spend time with them. He used to be social and got along with Malachi. It may surprise you, but Malachi used to be the anti-social one in the family. Dmitri was friendly, kind, and caring. Then his wife was killed and a little of the light went out of his eyes. But he still was strong for his two sons. He spent almost all of his free time with them after Eva died.

"Then one day we woke up to find a farmer outside blubbering and pointing to the canyon. We ran to the canyon and found..." Gareth took a deep breath as a tear escaped his eye, "Luhke and Sebastian were lying at the bottom of the cliff. I got a rope so we could climb down. The second Dmitri's feet touched the ground, he ran to his sons. Both of their left eyes had been stabbed out by some weapon. Dmitri checked their pulses and breathing, but they were dead as dust. I remember standing above them, staring at my brother crying and my nephews' bodies on the ground thinking, this can't be right; this has to be a dream. But in the end it wasn't."

Vector looked down. "It's terrible to find the ones you care about lying dead in front of you."

Gareth nodded. "Dmitri told me about the story you told him of your parents and the psycho episodes."

Vector and Gareth continued to chat while Astral was lost in thought. "Well, that story made me feel all warm and fuzzy." Dark Mist smirked sarcastically.

"Indeed." Astral murmured. He felt very depressed after hearing Gareth's tale, more than he probably should be feeling. Astral looked up and noticed Dark Mist retreating into the key. Astral was completely fine with this, after all, Dark Mist was his twin and he wasn't very malevolent anymore. But Astral was still curious what Dark Mist was going in the key for, so he followed the number into the emperor's key.

Astral found Dark Mist staring at Number 13: Twin Djinn. "What are you thinking about?" Astral asked.

Dark Mist literally jumped ten feet in the air. "DON'T SNEAK UP ON ME LIKE THAT!"

"Was it that unsettling?" Astral asked.

"YES! It was!" Dark Mist yelped. Astral had a very strong feeling of deja-vu, as if he had been in this situation before.

"Sorry, but what are you thinking about?" Astral asked.

"Right now, putting a bell on you." Dark Mist muttered.

Astral rolled his eyes. "I meant before I made you almost scream."

"You did not make me almost scream like a little girl!" Dark Mist bristled.

"You added the little girl part yourself." Astral commented.

"Shut it, Lucky!" Dark Mist pouted.

Astral blinked. "...Lucky?"

Dark Mist seemed to realize what he had just said. "I... have no idea why I called you that. Probably something from our past life, which we can't remember."

Astral frowned. "That's what you were thinking about when I came in, wasn't it?"

Dark Mist hugged himself. "Yeah, I just want to remember everything. Our life, our family, our interests, our hopes and dreams, all of it. I just want to remember." a single tear trickled down his cheek.

Astral turned his brother around and hugged him. "It'll be all right, we'll remember soon. As soon as we collect the remaining numbers, we'll be able to remember everything."

"I hope we remember soon. I can't stand not knowing who I was." Dark Mist hugged Astral back tightly.

"Me neither. But I guess I'm used to it, you're not." Astral said sadly.

Dark Mist hugged Astral for a few more seconds before letting go saying, "And when exactly did you get permission to hug me, O mighty and powerful Astral who happens to be my twin?"

Astral sighed and reluctantly let go. Some things never change.

…...

"Finally! Here we are!" Malachi cried as they rode into a clearing.

"Whoa..." Yuma gaped as he looked at the ruin entrance.

"Big, huh?" Malachi grinned at Yuma. The entrance to the ruins was a large arch-way decorated with carvings.

"Yeah! I've seen a lot of ruins but every one is so awesome!" Yuma grinned.

"Even my ruin where I tried to kill you?" Vector asked.

"He tried to KILL you?!" Dmitri cried.

Vector laughed nervously. "That was when I was psycho, and I tried to kill him MULTIPLE times, not just once."

"Great, just f*cking peachy." Dmitri muttered.

"I apologized about 3000 times after I went back to being nice." Vector said.

"Yeah, I remember that! You went WAAAAY overboard with the apologies." Yuma smiled.

"Well, I did a whole lot of unforgivable stuff." Vector cringed.

"You didn't do a lot of unforgivable stuff, we forgave you." Yuma said.

"And I'm still wondering why." Vector shook his head.

"Let's stop regretting the stuff Vector has done in the past, now's the future. It's better to seize what can be than to hold on to what used to be." Malachi said with a grin.

"Yeah! Kattobingu da ore!" Yuma cheered.

"Let's rest here for the night and enter the ruins in the morning. I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't want to be dodging traps without a good night's sleep." Gareth suggested.

"Good idea! Let's set up camp and get exploring in the morning!" Malachi agreed.

As he helped unpack, Yuma commented, "My dad always says that it's never good to explore when you're tired; you might miss something incredible or get yourself or others hurt because you're too exhausted to think straight. He was also the one gave me the emperor's key, you know, the one Astral lives in."

Malachi laughed. "Your dad seems like a great man, I'd like to meet him someday. Do you think he's worried about you?"

"Maybe a little, but he probably knows I'm off on another adventure. I somehow end up in situations like this more often than I should, or at least my sister thinks I should." Yuma replied.

Malachi chuckled and Yuma grinned. "Can I strangle Malachi?" Dark Mist asked.

"...why?!" Astral asked incredulously.

"I'm just really, really, furious at him right now." Dark Mist answered.

"No, you cannot strangle him." Astral sighed. "Do you want to try out the quills Dmitri bought?"

"If I can't commit murder, fine." Dark Mist sighed. The twins floated over to Dmitri and Dark Mist pulled two of the quills out of Dmitri's pocket. Dmitri appeared startled before relaxing a little once he realized it was probably just Astral and Dark Mist.

"Do you want to try out the quills?" Dmitri sighed.

"How the hell are we supposed to answer that, jackass?" Dark Mist asked, but looked like he regretted saying it immediately after. He pulled out a sheet of parchment from the traveling bag and handed it Dmitri.

"I'll take that as a yes." Dmitri groaned and pulled out two ink bottles and went over to a tree stump. Laying the parchment on the stump, he unscrewed and set the ink bottles next to the paper. "Alright, I have blue and black ink, one of you use the black ink and one of you use the blue ink."

"Well, that worked out well." Dark Mist commented as he dipped his quill in the black ink and wrote,

_ Dark Mist here, I'll take the black ink(duh, hello? DARK Mist?) and Astral will take the blue ink._

Dmitri sighed. "I'm guessing you're more sarcastic than Astral?"

_Hell yeah. He can be a bit of a buzz kill at times._

Astral glared at Dark Mist. "I am not a buzz kill."

Dark Mist smirked. "Sure you're not." Astral rolled his eyes and dipped his quill in the blue ink.

_Hello, I am Astral. It is nice to meet you._

"Likewise." Dmitri said dryly. "Do you want me to get Malachi so you can talk to him?"

_NO!_

Astral sighed at Dark Mist's blunt answer and wrote his own.

_Do not get Malachi and do not show him this paper. We don't exactly trust or like him much, Dark Mist especially._

Dmitri blinked. "Alright then."

At this point, Gareth came over. "Talking with Astral and Dark Mist?"

_Yes he is, hello Gareth. Great to talk with you._

Gareth read over the page. "That was blue ink so... hi Astral. Dark Mist hasn't apologized for hitting Dmitri on the head with a rock yet then?" Gareth grinned.

_Oops... Sorry Dmitri! Did not mean to hit you. If I could do it over again-_

"You wouldn't have thrown the rock?" Dmitri asked dubiously.

_No, I would've thrown it harder and hit Malachi._

Gareth laughed a little while Astral gave Dark Mist a look. "So, what's your problem with Malachi?" Gareth asked.

_Long story._

Astral sighed. "You don't KNOW our history with Malachi." he pointed out.

"A minor detail I might have left out." Dark Mist waved Astral's point away.

"You don't even know if we have history with Malachi." Astral said.

Dark Mist frowned. "I'm pretty sure we do, why else would I hate him so much?"

Astral had to admit he had a point.

Dmitri, meanwhile, was a little confused. Astral and Dark Mist weren't nearly as malevolent as he had pictured. Of course they could be acting... yes, that must be it. He wanted to believe they could be nice, but he had to think realistically. "If you two are done with the introductions, I had better put this stuff away and get some sleep." Dmitri said coolly.

Astral and Dark Mist both handed over their quills an Dmitri went to put the writing supplies back in his bag. Gareth watch him leave before saying, "He's a little broken right now. One of these days I hope he goes back to how he used to be." Gareth looked down and sadly chuckled, "Well I'm going to get some sleep. Busy day tomorrow." he walked to his horse's saddle bag and pulled out a blanket. After finding a good grassy spot, he laid down and covered himself up with the blanket, falling asleep to the lullaby of crickets chirping.


	7. Chapter 7

Yuma slowly blinked awake with a low groan.

"AWWW MAN!" Dark Mist complained holding a garter snake with his tentacles.

"Were you going to put that on me?!" Yuma yelled while jumping up.

"Nii-sama's in the key so I took the liberty of waking you up. By the way, there's a lizard in your hair." Dark Mist said.

Yuma quickly brushed the green reptile off. "I like it when Astral wakes me up a lot better."

"I'm not Lucky, deal with it." Dark Mist shrugged. Seeing Yuma's expression, he added, "It's something I think I used to call Astral in our past life. After the surprise of hearing it the first time, it began to annoy him when I called him it. So naturally I have referred to him as Lucky all night."

"...oh." Yuma said.

"Morning Yuma! You're up early, for you at least." Malachi grinned, "By the way, you have a frog on your shoulder."

Yuma jumped and flailed his arm to get the amphibian off. "Stupid Dark Mist!"

"Astral didn't wake you up or tell Dark Mist not to put reptiles on you?" Malachi asked.

"No, he's still in the key." Yuma explained.

"Ah." Malachi breathed. "Well, hope you got a good rest. We're heading into the ruins as soon as Vector and Gareth get back. They wanted to scout around the ruin to see if there is any clues to what might be in there."

As if on cue, Vector and Gareth walked back into the clearing and Astral came out of the key. "Found anything?" Malachi asked eagerly.

Vector and Gareth shook their heads. "We found a lot of runes, but we have no idea what they mean or how to translate them." Gareth sighed.

"So we're going in blind." Dmitri grumbled.

"Oh well, I guess we get to have the fun figuring out what awaits us as we go!" Malachi smiled.

"I don't define the possibility and probability of becoming a stain on the ruin floor 'fun'." Dmitri said.

Malachi rolled his eyes. "If you're careful, that's not going to happen. People who end up dead from an accident usually aren't careful enough and end up with their backs broken or stabbed."

"Not always! Plenty of people die from accidents even when they are really cautious!" Yuma protested.

"Sometimes, yes. But often not. Sometimes some idiot will go wandering out alone in a possibly dangerous place and then when faced with certain death, won't try to run or fight and end up cold and dead." Malachi said.

Dmitri and Gareth clenched their fists and Astral realized what Malachi was hinting. "That little..." Astral growled out.

"What's up with you? You're usually the calm one." Dark Mist commented.

Astral turned to his brother. "Malachi was suggesting that Dmitri's sons were morons and deserved to die."

Dark Mist's eyes widened and his mouth dropped. "That little shit! Let me kill him!"

"No killing him, although I am a little pissed at him." Astral frowned.

"A little?! You almost swore at him and you NEVER swear!" Dark Mist cried.

"Nevertheless, no killing him." Astral said.

"Fine! But I am so chucking something at him in the ruins by 'accident'." Dark Mist spat.

"Anyway, let's get going! And be careful." Malachi added with a glance at Dmitri. He walked into the ruins with the rest of the group close behind. After they had gone in about 40 yards, they came to a side room that diverted from the main hall.

"There's some carvings on the wall over here. They look like pictures." Vector said. He and Gareth walked into the room. Suddenly, a wall fell down from the ceiling, cutting Vector and Gareth off from the others.

"Gareth! Vector!" Yuma shouted.

"We're fine! But this wall isn't moving!" Vector's muffled voice yelled from behind the barrier.

"There has to be some place ahead where we can rejoin, is there any path leading out of that room?" Dmitri asked. For the first time since Yuma had met him, he sounded genuinely worried behind his calm tone.

"Yeah, there's a hall leading out. We'll go down it and hope and pray it leads outside or back to the main corridor where you guys are." Gareth said.

"We'll continue the way we were going. Don't worry, we'll catch up to you soon. Kattobingu!" Yuma called.

"See you, Yuma-kun!" Vector replied. Muffled footsteps from behind the door slowly got softer as Vector and Gareth walked away. Yuma, Dmitri, Malachi, Dark Mist, and Astral continued to journey through the ruin.

After staring at Malachi for a while, Dark Mist cried, "I call bullshit!" startling Astral and Yuma.

"Huh?" Yuma asked.

"Don't say anything Yuma. I really don't want Malachi hearing." Dark Mist said.

"Why?" Yuma asked.

"I'm not explaining just shut up." Dark Mist replied, "In fact, just ignore this conversation Astral and I are having."

"Ooookay..." Yuma said.

Astral sighed, "Be less rude to Yuma please. Why did you say you call bullshit?"

Dark Mist started gesturing with his hands, "Dmitri was actually worried, in his own way, about Gareth and Vector. However, the little shit that is Malachi doesn't give a crap. Seriously, the way he's acting you'd think they were still here and not wandering through some other part of the ruin."

Astral looked at Malachi who had started talking and laughing with Yuma. "Indeed... he seems incredibly relaxed for someone who's brother and traveling companion have just been cut off and may or may not be in trouble. And Dmitri seems to have noticed." Astral pointed to Dmitri. The dark blue-haired man's hands were clenched into fists that looked like they were about to deck somebody and he was seething through his teeth.

"Sure has. Hold on a second." Dark Mist pulled a quill, ink bottle, and paper out of Dmitri's bag. Using his tentacles to hold the ink bottle and have something solid to write on, he dipped his quill in the black ink bottle and wrote,

_Malachi's a real douche._

Dmitri smirked slightly as he saw the writing before frowning and whispering, "You do know you're talking about my youngest brother, right?"

_Yeah, I can count how many times you've spoken fondly of him. And that's one if you count what you just said, which I really don't._

Dmitri glanced at the paper before whispering, "It's none of your business what's going on in my family life."

_Whatever, but Malachi's still a douche._

Dmitri frowned. "Yeah... he is." He increased his pace and pointedly ignored Dark Mist's attempts to communicate more with him.

As Dark Mist tried to get Dmitri's attention by smacking him over the head with the paper which he had rolled up, Astral put a hand on his shoulder. "Dark Mist... just leave him alone, he doesn't want to talk." When Dark Mist didn't stop, Astral added, "Plus, Malachi might notice." THAT made Dark Mist stop and put the writing supplies back in Dmitri's bag.

"Fine, but I don't get why he doesn't want to bash Malachi. I mean, he obviously hates that piece of crap's GUTS," Dark Mist drawled then his eyes flickered to a place on the ceiling, then back to Dmitri. The pair of multi-colored eyes widened and Astral glanced to the spot on the ceiling where 96 was just looking. An ax blade was swinging down.

And right in its path was Dmitri.

Dark Mist lashed out with his tentacles and grabbed Dmitri. He yanked Dmitri closer to him just as the blade swung across less than an inch from Dmitri's face, right where he had been less than a second before. Dmitri's eyes were wide and Yuma and Malachi looked startled. "Whoa! That was really close! Are you okay, Dmitri?" Yuma asked.

Dmitri breathed heavily, "Yeah, as soon as Dark Mist lets me down." Dark Mist realized he was still holding on to Dmitri with his tentacles and let go. Astral looked at Dark Mist and saw he was crying.

"Why are you crying?" Astral asked.

"I am not! Why are YOU crying?!" Dark Mist demanded.

Astral touched his eye and his fingers came away wet. "I- I am crying... They feel wet and are salty. I don't think I like them."

"You're not SUPPOSED to like tears, asshole." Dark Mist snapped, then he frowned and touched his own cheek. "Wait... I'M actually crying too?! What the f*ck?!"

Astral blinked away his tears. "It must be because Dmitri almost died. I believe we did know him in our past life, just like Malachi and probably Gareth, and we were close to him in some way."

"Yeah, yeah," Dark Mist muttered.

"If he's okay, let's keep going but watch out for traps and not be idiots." Malachi said, breaking Astral and Dark Mist's conversation.

Dmitri punched his bag to vent a bit while Dark Mist yelled again, "I CALL BULLSHIT!"

Astral narrowed his eyes. Malachi was going to get on his nerves really soon if he kept acting like this. He hoped Vector and Gareth were better off.

…...

Vector leapt up into the air and did a backflip to avoid the razor sharp spikes protruding from the ground while Gareth pressed himself against the wall. Little, teensy tiny problems like this had been popping up regularly for almost an hour and Vector was beginning to get tired; he didn't even want to imagine how exhausted Gareth must be. "This is ridiculous." Vector said, stating the obvious.

"There's no arguing with you on that." Gareth panted, "This had better end soon." Vector nodded as the spikes went back into the floor and he landed on his feet. Gareth peeled himself off the wall and collapsed. "I can barely stand anymore."

"I know what you mean, I'm tired too. Here," Vector put Gareth's arm over his shoulder and helped the black-haired man stand up. "I'll help you along." Gareth started to mutter protests but was too weak to say anything above a loud whisper. So he and Vector staggered through the ruins, tired, bruised, and bleeding. When the floor gave way beneath their feet, they didn't even scream, they were so used to it. Vector transformed into his energy form and dragged Gareth over to solid ground before turning back to his human form.

"When are we going to get out of this hell hall?" Gareth sighed.

"I really, really hope it's soon. I swear if I see one more snake or scorpion, I'm going psycho and ripping it into a million pieces." Vector groaned as he slumped to the floor.

Gareth gave a weak laugh. "Yeah, I wouldn't blame you in the slightest if you did that."

Vector pulled Gareth out of the way as an arrow shot from a trap flew towards him. The arrow missed them and flew back into the darkness from where they had just came from. "Please, please let us be almost out of here. I don't care if we end up outside or rejoin the others, I just want to get out of here," Vector pleaded with whatever mystical force that would listen then stiffly stood up. "Well, let's get going and hope the next trap doesn't kill us."

"Way to bring down my already sucky mood." Gareth groaned as he also stood up.

Vector paused and an odd look came on his face. "Gareth... I think I'm about to have an episode soon so that's either going to make this situation a whole lot better or worse."

"You can tell when you're about to have an episode?"

"Sometimes, other times they come on without any warning-" Vector blinked and his eyes lost their shine. He giggled, "Well, let's keep going deeper into this death machine~" Despite being covered in cuts and bruises, Vector slung Gareth's arm over his shoulder and skipped onward. Gareth groaned in pain and exasperation. Vector, when he was still sane, was right. This would either be really, really good or terribly, utterly bad.

…...

Astral floated ahead with Dark Mist to scout out for any more traps other than the few they had come across. As he ran his spectral hand across the wall, Astral noticed an indent into the wall. "Dark Mist, come over here."

"Yes, Lucky," Dark Mist said with a smirk, "What's up? Another trap you want me to spring?"

"Don't call me Lucky!" Astral sighed.

Dark Mist shrugged, "Well, aside from annoying the heck out of you, it is the only thing I can remember from your name in our past life. And I have no clue about mine." he let out an aggravated sigh.

Astral frowned and said, "Don't worry, as soon as we collect all the numbers we'll remember everything, including our names. But can you press right here on the wall? It has a slight indent."

Dark Mist hit the part of the wall Astral was gesturing to with a loud crack. When he did so, it swung open to reveal a passageway. Yuma ran forward and peered into the passage. "HEY! Gareth! Vector! You guys in there?! Can you hear me?!" the lobster-haired duelist shouted.

"Here!" came the weak reply from Gareth. Yuma and Dmitri ran to the sound of his voice while Malachi stayed behind, watching.

"I call-" Dark Mist started.

Astral put up his hand in a classic wait gesture, "I know, bullshit right?"

Dark Mist nodded. "Right." he said just as Yuma and Dmitri came back helping a limping, bruised and bloody Gareth to walk as Vector skipped beside them, also bloody and covered in bruises. Astral sighed and Dark Mist fist pumped when they noticed his eyes. "Hey Vector!" Dark Mist whistled.

Vector leaped into the air and did a flip before landing next to Dark Mist. "Miss me~?" he giggled.

"Glad you're alright, even if you are crazy at the moment." Malachi said. Dark Mist made an inappropriate gesture at him and Vector laughed like the psycho that he was at the moment.

"Are you okay Gareth?" Dmitri asked and Astral heard real fear in his voice.

"Been better." Gareth gasped out as he fell to the ground clutching his arm which, to their horror, had a long, deep gash that was bleeding freely. Dmitri crouched beside him and attempted in vain to stop the bleeding on his own. Dark Mist quickly flew next to the two and wrapped his tentacles around Gareth's arm and squeezed tightly. After a few minutes, the bleeding slowed enough for Dmitri to wrap up Gareth's wound with bandages from his pack.

As Gareth lay panting on the floor, Malachi said, "Okay, Gareth's all bandaged up, we had better keep going."

Everybody stared at him. "ARE YOU INSANE?! Actually, don't answer that, if you think Gareth can keep going on without resting for a while or even go on at all you have to be! Plus a few other factors make me pretty sure that's the case..." Dmitri snarled.

"Yeah! He needs to rest for a while." Yuma agreed.

"Malachi can just go f*ck himself." Dark Mist growled.

"Gareth is in no position to continue at the moment." Astral said decidedly.

"So sorry, Mala-mai~ We're not making Gareth go on. And I'm injured too!" Vector pretended to faint but he burst out in insane laughter the second he hit the floor.

Astral took a quill from Dmitri's bag and Yuma held the paper and ink while Astral wrote,

_We will stay here until Gareth is fit to keep moving. He has suffered chronic blood loss and shouldn't be moved until he feels well or else he might pass out, maybe worse._

Malachi sighed, "As much as I think we should continue, I'm outvoted. We'll rest here for a while." he sat down and leaned against the wall. Dark Mist glared and pointed at Malachi(not with his index finger, the one next to it). Astral rolled his eyes at his twin's immaturity before also glaring at Malachi. There was something off about him, multiple things actually. Astral was afraid he would have to take back his declaration of trust he had made a few days earlier.

Because, no matter how nice he was to Yuma, Astral felt Malachi was up to no good.


	8. Chapter 8

Dark Mist was helping Dmitri and Yuma deal with Gareth and Vector's many cuts. There were some pretty bad ones on both of them but none as bad as the one on Gareth's arm, thank God. Astral was looking over at Malachi who was off on his own thinking about something. What he was musing about, Astral couldn't tell from his expression.

"Hmph. Vector's okay but Gareth's still five seconds away from passing out." Dark Mist reported while crossing his arms.

"I hope he'll be alright. As much as it pains me to agree with Malachi, eventually we will have to move on. But with Gareth in this condition, we can't," Astral sighed. Then something out of the corner of his eye made him turn his head. "Dark Mist, can you press on that spot on the wall?" Astral pointed to a brick.

"Okay, Lucky. But let's tell Yuma to tell the others to duck in case it spits fire or hamsters attack or whatever else B.S. traps pop up." Dark Mist said.

"I heard you," Yuma called, "Dark Mist is going to press a spot on the wall and wants us to duck."

"Fine." Dmitri helped Gareth lay down before he laid down on his belly. Malachi, Yuma, and Vector also laid down.

"Here goes nothing." Dark Mist pressed on the wall with one tentacle and a hidden door creaked open to reveal a staircase leading down.

They all stared at it for a while before Astral cried, "Of course!"

"Of course what, O mighty and mystical original number, Lucky?" Dark Mist asked.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to call me Lucky before you actually do it?!" Astral sighed.

"An infinite number of times because I won't ever stop calling you Lucky, Lucky." Dark Mist smirked.

Astral facepalmed. "ANYWAY! What I meant by of course was that this was a test of sorts. This whole place was designed to make us prove ourselves. The other room was designed to test our curiosity. The wall that fell down was to test that we had enough common sense that not everybody would explore the other room.

"Then there were plenty of traps in the other passage, designed to first of all test our athletics and survival skills and second of all to at least injure the explorers. And the door that we opened that led to the alternate passage was put there in order for us to either go looking for our companions or they come out. They would, of course, at least be injured enough so that they couldn't continue on without rest. This was designed to test our compassion and that we cared for our companions' well-being over any treasure this ruin may hold. I believe this staircase leads to the number and treasure we are seeking."

"Huh. Well isn't that just fricking clever." Dark Mist snorted.

"Come on~ Let's go down the stairs then! It shouldn't be far~" Vector giggled.

"I second that motion." Malachi agreed.

"Astral made a good point. Let's go!" Yuma cheered.

Dmitri carefully picked his brother up. "Does that hurt?"

"Nah, it's fine." Gareth said while wincing.

"Let's get going then." Malachi motioned. He moved in front of the passageway,

Then a rock smacked him in the back of the head. Hard.

"What the-!" Malachi sputtered while clutching the back of his head in pain.

"Dark Mist was going to throw a rock to see just how far the staircase went down when you stepped in the way the second he threw the rock." Vector said innocently before he burst out laughing like a total loony.

"Okay then. I was just afraid it was another trap." Malachi laughed.

As they walked down the stairs, Dark Mist mentioned to Astral, "I did tell you I was going to chuck a rock at him. Sadly, that was the largest one I could find."

"That was incredibly immature." Astral sighed.

"Oh please, you were silently cheering when he got hit." Dark Mist smirked.

Astral hated to admit it, but somewhere deep inside him laughed when Malachi got hit in the head with the stone. "It was still immature."

"Whatever. Next time I'll plan something more elaborate." Dark Mist smirked.

They reached the bottom of the staircase and all eyes widened. There were heaps of jewels, gold, and artifacts. And floating above a pedestal, was the number card. Dmitri set Gareth down and he and Vector started to dress his wounds again and help him drink some water from Dmitri's water keg while Malachi and Yuma checked out the treasures. Astral floated over to the number and removed it from the pedestal. Thankfully, nothing happened. No traps, no ceiling collapsing, no freaky number guardians popping up.

"Yuma, Dark Mist and I are going into the key." Astral alerted Yuma.

"Got it!" Yuma replied, "Astral and Dark Mist are going into the key." Yuma said for the others' benefit. Astral went into the key but Dark Mist hesitated before he too went into the emperor's key.

"Are you ready?" Astral asked, holding out the new number, Number 89: Retrieval Rocket, out to him. Dark Mist hesitated before touching the number. He and Astral's eyes widened as their lost memory broke through.

~_**Memory~**_

"Daaaaddddd!" Luhke whined, "Sebastian called me Lucky again!"

Their father sighed, "Sebastian, don't call your brother Lucky, you know he hates that."

"Come on! It fits him!" Sebastian complained.

"Sebastian, I believe I told you the story of where that nickname comes from, right?" their dad said with an eye roll.

Sebastian waved it away, "Yeah, yeah. I started calling him it when I first started to talk because I couldn't pronounce his real name. But keep in mind that nowadays I call him it for a different reason."

"To annoy the heck out of him?" their uncle asked with a smile on his face.

"Well, yes but not because I called him it as a baby!" Sebastian said.

"Although that's definitely where it originally comes from, you're just making up another reason?" their father smirked not unkindly.

"Yes! Wait, no! Um..." Sebastian seemed confused for a second.

Their dad and uncle laughed, "I'm interested what he came up with. Maybe I can use it as an excuse to call Luhke Lucky too." their uncle said mischievously

"Gareth!" their dad admonished just as Luhke cried in dismay, "Uncle Gareth!"

Their uncle ruffled Luhke's hair. "I'm just messing with you, Luhke."

"Anyway! The reason-" Sebastian started.

"Aka excuse!" Luhke accused.

"The REASON," Sebastian smirked, "I'm calling Luhke Lucky is because if you change the 'H' and 'E' in his name to 'C' and 'Y', it changes to Lucky! See, it's practically his name!"

Their dad chuckled, "Sorry, Luhke. I have to give him bonus points for figuring that one out."

Luhke pouted, then he froze up as he saw something in the doorway. Sebastian looked to where his twin was looking, then he too froze stiff in fear. Then they both bolted and hid behind their father.

"Please let it be a spider or something normal children are afraid of." the family's attention was turned to Luhke and Sebastian's other uncle.

Uncle Gareth sighed and went over to pick up the tabby cat that had wandered in. "Now how did you get in?" he mused. The cat let out a small meow which made Luhke and Sebastian scream in terror and hug their dad.

"Of course. A cat. Makes sense that those little wimps are scared them." their other uncle sneered.

Tears started to leak out of Luhke's eyes and Sebastian sniffed and looked down while their father glared at their other uncle murderously, "Malachi! Do not call my children wimps! Everyone is scared of something! So you had better never ever call them something like that again."

"Or what?" their Uncle Malachi smirked.

"Or you'll have me to deal with as well." their mother stood in doorway with her arms crossed and throwing a look that could kill at their Uncle Malachi.

He paled then turned away and scowled, "Fine."

Their mom smirked, "Still remembering the broom incident?"

Sebastian let our a small giggle but Luhke wasn't so cruel as to laugh. The broom incident was a story about something that had happened when he and Sebastian were a few weeks old. Apparently Uncle Malachi had called them something insulting, what the exact wording was, their parents wouldn't tell them because it was not appropriate for children, but their parents and Uncle Gareth were furious about it. So their mom suddenly grabbed a broom that was leaning on the wall and smacked Uncle Malachi all the way across the room, where he hit a bookcase and all the books fell on his head one by one, then the bookcase itself fell on him. He ended up alright but he was extra careful around their mom ever since.

Uncle Malachi scooted away from their mother, "Yes, very much so."

She smirked, "Good. Then you won't bully by children anymore, right?"

Uncle Malachi turned away and growled. "Do you have to be so rude to them, Malachi? They're just kids, they haven't done anything to you." Uncle Gareth asked as he put the cat outside. Their Uncle Malachi didn't reply.

"Why don't you two go draw a picture in your room while your mother, Uncle Gareth, and I have a talk with your Uncle Malachi about manners." their father said.

"As long as their aren't any cats in there, okay! Come on, Lucky!" Sebastian smirked the raced up to his and Luhke's room.

"Don't call me, Lucky!" Luhke shouted as he chased after his brother.

** _~End Memory~_**

Astral gasped as he flashed out of the memory. "I… remember our family and I remember our names but… our names… if that was what we were called then…" Astral looked at Dark Mist and got one of the shocks of his life. Dark Mist was floating curled up into a ball and crying his soul out. "Dark Mist…?"

Dark Mist sniffled and said through his sobs, "Our names were slurred to me but I remember their faces!"

Astral frowned. "Our family's faces were blurred to me in my case."

Dark Mist sobbed out, "Astral, our dad was- is-" Dark Mist broke off and started sobbing uncontrollably. Astral hugged his twin close to him. After a few minutes, Dark Mist managed to cry between sobs, "Dmitri's our dad! He's our daddy!" Dark Mist started to cry his heart out again.

Astral's eyes widened as Dark Mist confirmed what was already going through his mind. Despite slightly expecting it himself, Astral was caught off guard. "Dmitri… is Father?" Astral murmured.

Dark Mist managed to nod through his heart-wrenching sobs. "D-Daddy…" he cried.  
Astral rubbed Dark Mist's back and kissed his forehead. "I-it's okay."

"NO! It's not! Even after we remembered being twins, I still never recognized him as our dad! I didn't even guess! I even sassed him a few times! And I threw a f*cking rock at his head!" Dark Mist sobbed.

"I didn't suspect he was our father either." Astral soothed.

"You didn't chuck a rock at him!" Dark Mist cried. Astral hugged him tighter and patted his hair affectionately. After a while, Dark Mist's breathing became slower and more regular. He looked up at Astral and asked, "What were our names?"

Astral blinked. "You already know what they are-"

"I want to hear it from you." Dark Mist said decidedly, "What- what was my name?"

Astral choked down his own sobs as hundreds of foreign emotions came welling up inside him as he said, "Sebastian." Astral couldn't hold it back anymore and started to cry too.

"And- and what was yours?" Dark Mist asked.

Astral hesitated before he whispered, "L- Luhke." Astral sniffled and rubbed his eyes. He squeezed Dark Mist and they stayed like that for about an hour.

"What are we going to do? I can let Dad see me but he can't see you unless he has a number that allows him to and we can't use a number someone else uses to see you because it might not work for him. And if he can only see one of us, he'll be torn up about it." Dark Mist said.

Astral bit his lip. "I suppose we just expose him to all the numbers and if none of them work, we'll try all the new numbers we gather and hope one of them works."

"But… how can I even face him?! See his face, how depressed he is now… he lost us! B- because of me…" Dark Mist sobbed.

Astral tightened his grip on his twin. "Dark Mist, it wasn't your fault. We've been over this."

"You may not think so but I do! I've tried and almost succeeded in murdering you multiple times! I've possessed you! How can you even say it wasn't my fault we died?! How-"

"Sebastian!" Astral yelled, effectively making Dark Mist shut up and listen to him at the mention of his name. "It was probably Don Thousand's fault you went bad! Not yours! You remembered that memory from the number just like I did! You were sarcastic, funny, smart, joking and nice and you still are! Do you really think that type of person could kill someone, and all events during the number war don't count because those are blamed on Don Thousand. I can never believe you would ever cause my death, anymore at least, and you certainly never killed me in our past life!"

Dark Mist still sobbed, "B- but what if I did? I- I don't want to remember that,"

Astral hugged him tighter, "You won't, because you never would've killed me. How we died wasn't your fault."

"But what if-"

"It wasn't." Astral said with finality.

Dark Mist looked down as tears ran down his cheeks, "I- I can't get it out of my mind. I'm afraid it was my fault, that I was the cause of our death."

"You were not. You were not responsible for our death, alright?" Astral said.

Dark Mist clutched onto Astral's shoulder, "A- alright, Luhke." he burst into a whole new fit of sobs. Astral rested his head on Dark Mist's and cried with him.

…...

Dark Mist floated above where Gareth was lying on a bed. Astral was out with Dmitri showing him number cards to try and see if one of them would work. Dark Mist himself wasn't ready to face his dad again so he was in here with his unconscious uncle. He put his hand on Gareth's forehead then pulled back. He was burning hot; his injury had led to infection and he now had a burning fever.

Dark Mist forced back the tears pricking at his eyes. "Hi, Uncle Gareth." he just about kicked himself. '_Yeah, that wasn't lame at allllll.' _Wow, he even sassed himself. He tried again, "I- I'm sorry I didn't say hi earlier. I didn't remember you then," he sniffed, "I- I don't remember how Luhke and I died and- I'm afraid it might've been my fault. Luhke says it wasn't but I'm not so sure." Dark Mist wiped his eyes, "Well, I bet you don't want to hear about my worries at this moment."

Gareth moved his head slightly and groaned. Dark Mist grabbed his hand and squeezed. "P- please don't die, Uncle Gareth. Please, stay alive. I don't want you to go, I'm begging you not to go! Just... hang in there, okay? Please..." Dark Mist sobbed. He mock sat down next to Gareth on the bed and stayed there all night.

** Just so you know, the whole "Dmitri can't see Astral unless he has the right number card" is my own little head-cannon theory based off the fact that not all number holders have demonstrated the ability to see Astral. My theory is that every holder has a number card that synchs with them perfectly allowing them to see Astral but the number they get is not always that number.**


End file.
